Creative Writing Studies Organization The Creative Writing Studies Organization is dedicated to helping creative writing studies establish itself through increasing the visibility of scholarship that pertains to creative writing and being an inclusive, diverse space that fosters open conversation about topics pertaining to the field.
#CWSC26 Registration is Open!
Hyatt Regency, Rochester NY
October 2-4, 2026
Registration for the In-Person 2026 Creative Writing Studies Conference is open.
Join us in Rochester, NY as we collaborate with the Rochester Institute of Technology to explore the emotional landscape of Creative Writing, how it drives our work in research, teaching, and publishing.
Call for Papers #CWSC26
In our Feels: The Emotional Landscape of Creative Writing Studies
In-person, October 2-4, 2026
Hyatt Regency, Rochester, NY
Take me to the CFP!
The Creative Writing Studies Organization is now accepting proposals for our in-person fall conference in collaboration with the Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York.
#CWSC26 asks presenters to gut check creative writing practices in publishing, classrooms, and the academy. Successful proposals will share, through embodied knowledge, what’s feeling good, what’s feeling bad, and why. We invite presenters to trouble and explore the emotional dimensions of creative writing studies—how feelings shape, guide, complicate, or resist thoughts and actions. Our chosen presentations and workshops will not only value emotional intelligence
as scholarly intelligence, but also research the ways that emotions shape program structures, mentoring, accessibility, publishing, and the identities we inhabit as writers and teachers.
Together, we will interrogate how emotions circulate in classrooms,
workshops, mentoring relationships, publishing ecosystems, and creative communities, as well as how emotional knowledge is produced, resisted, regulated, or valued in creative writing studies. The CWSC provides space for both critical analysis and reflective, experimental, and embodied modes of inquiry.
Registration includes 2 days of concurrent sessions including Keynote, workshops, papers, panels, and roundtables. Attendees have the option to receive a continuing education certificate.
Mission Statement
The Creative Writing Studies Organization (CWSO) explores and interrogates the practice and theory of creative writing. Where creative writing is concerned primarily with the production of creative texts, creative writing studies also applies methods from a range of disciplines to theorize and to research the pedagogy, history, practice, practitioners, and communities within the field of creative writing. CWSO supports efforts to advance our understanding of creative writing through pedagogical and scholarly efforts across a broad range of sites and subjects. We advocate for
- Access to knowledge, information, and resources relating to creative writing studies
- Interdisciplinary approaches to the study and understanding of creative writing across diverse teaching and learning environments
- The amplification of marginalized stakeholders, constituencies, and communities in order to foster open conversations
- The critical examination of undertheorized practices in the field of creative writing
What is the Creative Writing Studies Organization?
The Creative Writing Studies Organization was founded as a non-profit in early 2016. We are dedicated to helping creative writing studies establish itself through increasing the visibility of scholarship that pertains to creative writing and being an inclusive, diverse space that fosters open conversation about topics pertaining to the field. The organization does this through two primary means: its peer-reviewed, open-access publication The Journal of Creative Writing Studies and an annual Creative Writing Studies Conference, the first of which was held in fall 2016.
How to Get Involved
The Creative Writing Studies Organization collects annual dues and formally enrolls its members. Using the menus above, you can now register as a member of the organization and receive information on the annual conference. We encourage you to read the Journal of Creative Writing Studies and learn more about the Creative Writing Studies Conference. Consider submitting an article to the journal or a paper proposal to the conference. Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter to stay in the loop for announcements.
Visit our Membership page to register as an individual or institutional member. As a member, you may wish to run for office, serve on a committee, or participate in elections. Our field is still young and the organization is still new. We want everyone to feel welcome and to participate in shaping the future of the organization, so please, we encourage your involvement at any level!